one piece film

The film production company Toei revealed the plot on Monday for the newest One Piece film, which will be set in the New World. The film will feature the Straw Hat pirate crew against their "strongest enemy yet," a man named "Z." Toei officials added that in the film the franchise's protagonist Monkey D. Luffy will encounter Z, but he will be Luffy's strongest enemy. The movie will feature a "heroic battle" between Luffy and Z.

Toei also confirmed on Monday that the film, directed by Tatsuya Nagamine (One Piece: The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventure in Alabasta), will open in December. Eiichiro Oda himself will oversee the production for the film as its executive producer. Oda previously oversaw the production on the One Piece: Strong World film (pictured at right).

Oda's One Piece pirate manga entered the New World arc last fall, and the television anime adaptation followed suit this past October. There has not been a feature-length One Piece film since One Piece Film Strong World in 2009, although there was the half-hour "One Piece 3D: Mugiwara Chase" short last March. There was also a "One Piece 3D Gekisō! Trap Coaster" event short at select theme parks and theaters in December.

The film's original announcement said that the film would "surpass Strong World" and noted that the film will show the "first battle in the New World arc on the final seas!!"